What Should You Consider When Choosing Docusaurus?

Many documentation teams are interested in Docusaurus, especially if they are documenting a software product. Docusaurus is very exciting for teams who want the flexibility of using an open-source tool, and utilizing open-source software may even be mandatory for some particular organizations.

However, there is a reason why many organizations opt for SaaS applications like Document360. This AI-powered knowledge base is designed to help your team write, review, and publish online documentation. We want to present why many teams choose Document360 over Docusaurus.

The main difference to consider between Docusaurus and Document360 is that Docusaurus is a static site generator while Document360 is a knowledge base. Both are used for documentation, and each has different strengths and weaknesses when it comes to implementation.

For example, in Docusaurus, you can access the software code as it is released as open source, while in Document360, the software code is proprietary. With Docusaurus, you host it yourself, while Document360 is hosted for you.

What is Docusaurus?

Docusaurus is an open-source, freely available static site generator (SSG) developed by the team behind Facebook and built on React. Docusaurus is used to create websites with content written in Markdown and can be considered especially suitable for teams looking to publish documentation.

As long as you have the development resources, teams are drawn towards Docusaurus because it is easy to set up, and your technical writers can focus on creating content. It’s integrated with GitHub, so you can ensure that your documentation is synced with your software releases.

Some may think that you can’t go far wrong when a powerful solution is free, but the reality is that you do get what you pay for. Open-source software isn’t the kind of tool where you can sign up and get up and running since it requires development resources to install and maintain.

What Does Docusaurus Offer as a Knowledge Base?

You can use Docusaurus to create beautiful documentation sites that will serve content to internal or external users. With Docusaurus, you have the satisfaction of hand-coding your site in ReactJS using the themes available in Docusaurus. Docusaurus offers advanced features and plugins to extend the functionality of your documentation site.

Docusaurus is a great alternative to content management systems such as WordPress, or wikis such as WikiMedia. What you get out of Docusaurus depends on what you want to achieve since Docusaurus is specifically geared toward documentation.

Advantages of Docusaurus

One of the biggest advantages of Docusaurus is its compatibility with the ‘docs-as-code’ approach to developing documentation. This means that developers or technical writers use the same tools to write and publish the documentation as they would to write the code, keeping the docs close to the codebase.

Since Docusaurus follows the ‘docs-as-code’ approach, it is a developer-oriented tool to build static content for websites, web pages, blogs, and, most importantly, online documentation.

Here are the advantages of Docusaurus:

• The ‘docs-as-code’ approach seems to be gaining interest among tech writers and other specialists who write documentation for software products.
• Docusaurus is a free-to-use software built by engineers at Meta.
• Docusaurus is a customizable open-source tool built on ReactJS.
• It can be self-hosted and self-managed.
• It supports MDX – Markdown language standards and JSX – Javascript XML to write HTML in ReactJS.

These advantages are very convincing for users who want to choose a tool like Docusaurus to manage their documentation sites in-house and avoid the cost of using a SaaS knowledge base.

Key Considerations When Using Docusaurus

Workflow Management

While Docusaurus integrates well with GitHub for workflow management, it means your content creators need to get comfortable with version control concepts. Many teams embrace this as an opportunity to level up their technical skills, though it does require some adjustment in the content creation process. The platform works best when paired with deployment platforms that offer detailed access controls.

Hosting Set Up

Docusaurus puts you in control of your documentation infrastructure. You can set up hosting, deployment pipelines, and scaling according to your team’s specific needs. This flexibility lets you align the setup with your organization’s practices. Teams can implement localization through configuration and integrations to reach global audiences.

Technical Requirements

Getting Docusaurus up and running typically involves having people who can handle:

• Server infrastructure management
• ReactJS and related technologies
• Development and maintenance of CI/CD workflows
• Infrastructure scaling and optimization
• Quality assurance for deployments
• Content writers who are comfortable in a development environment

Infrastructure Planning

You have the flexibility to choose between on-premises servers or cloud services, allowing you to align with your existing infrastructure strategy. Each option offers unique advantages for configuration management and server maintenance.

Customization and Development

Docusaurus gives you extensive control through themes that work similarly to plugins. If your team has development resources, you can customize almost everything – though you’ll need folks who know their way around ReactJS, CLI, and JavaScript to make those customizations happen.

Ongoing Operations

Running a Docusaurus site means staying on top of:

• Regular technical maintenance
• Team training and development
• Infrastructure updates
• Release management
• Security oversight and compliance requirements
• Monitoring of updates and patch implementations

Content Management Features

The docs-as-code approach feels natural if you’re coming from a development background. You’ll handle things like:

• Category management
• User access controls
• Redirect handling
• Version comparison
• Preview functionality

Analytics and Data Management

While Docusaurus doesn’t include built-in analytics, you can integrate your preferred tracking tools to monitor visitor engagement and content performance. Many teams find this flexibility allows them to use their favorite analytics solutions.

Backup and Recovery

Teams can integrate their preferred backup and restoration tools, aligning perfectly with existing data management practices and organizational requirements as Docusaurus does not provide this feature.

Deploy Your Content Consideration

Publishing with Docusaurus means choosing where and how to host your documentation. While getting started is straightforward with development environments, you’ll need to plan your production setup thoughtfully.

Search Functionality

Search capabilities come through Algolia integration, which works like having a search engine specifically for your docs. You can configure and optimize it based on your specific requirements.

Content Editing

At its core, Docusaurus is developer-oriented, offering technical flexibility and customization options. With the open-source nature and flexibility for developers, you may often find your efforts diverted from generating and managing content to maintaining the application and infrastructure.

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Static Site Generators Versus SaaS Knowledge Base

Some organizations are required to use open-source software such as Docusaurus, in which case they may well want to opt for an SSG. But using open-source software like SSGs comes with its own headaches, and many organizations don’t have the time or budget for it.

In this instance, SaaS knowledge base software becomes very attractive. With SaaS knowledge base software, you pay for access to their software, and you can immediately start generating documentation in no time!

Knowledge bases like Document360 have been created for teams who want simple publishing workflows, attractive documentation sites, analytics for analyzing performance, automatic backup and security, and more. For a single monthly fee, you can outsource the cost of installing, maintaining, and developing your knowledge base to a highly specialized vendor.

Read on to find out more about what a SaaS knowledge base is.

What is a SaaS Knowledge Base? Why is it Better?

A SaaS knowledge base is very much like a static site generator or content management system, except that it has been developed specifically for online documentation. From the workflow management capabilities in the back end to the slick, public-facing website, knowledge base software is designed for teams who want to rapidly and effectively share knowledge.

A SaaS knowledge base has all the features you need to support a documentation team and enable you to present your content to your end users. There’s no messing about with servers or hosts since knowledge bases like Document360 do it all for you.

If you ever have a big spike in traffic, then Document360 can handle this for you, and every page is automatically indexed for SEO. You can choose whether to author your pages in Markdown or using the WYSIWYG editor since Document360 is adapted for the needs of your team.

The Advantages of a SaaS Knowledge Base like Document360

Now that we understand the differences between a SaaS knowledge base and a static site generator, we’re going to look more closely at the main advantages of investing in the latter.

Custom domains

When you publish your documentation to a knowledge base, you want it to be hosted on the right domain for your company. You might even like the knowledge base to be hosted on a subdomain of your main website, such as help.yourcompany.com. All this is possible in Document360 which allows custom domains for your knowledge base.

Software integrations and extensions

What takes your knowledge base software to the next level is the ability to integrate with other tools to supercharge your documentation workflows. Whether that’s ticketing systems, CRMs, or developer tools, Document360 offers a simple integration with many popular tools using an API key or access token so that you can connect all your favorite apps.

Versioning and translating

Document360 allows you to create multiple versions of a document, which is particularly useful when you need to update or make changes to existing content. Each version is saved separately, enabling you to maintain a historical record of changes made over time.

Document360 provides an intuitive UI for designing and managing the versions and locale structure.

AI localization features help you with generic machine translation of articles with high-quality content. To ensure more accuracy, you can review the content manually. You can also use the localization feature and convert articles to 50+ languages with integration support from tools like Phrase.io and Crowdin.

Automatic search and AI

Document360 uses AI search to help users find the right documentation at the right time. Advanced querying means you can use keywords and tags to find projects, with AI augmenting the user’s ability to find the appropriate content quickly. It is tolerant of typos and uses Algolia DocSearch to search for content on the platform.

With Eddy, the AI assistant, you can create conversational search, making it more engaging for your users and easier to navigate. At the end of every search result, relevant article recommendations keep users intact for further exploration.

Security

Document360 employs industry-standard encryption protocols to protect your data. This includes encrypting data in transit using SSL/TLS (Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security) and encrypting data at rest using robust encryption algorithms. Document360 is VAPT, SOC2, and GDPR-compliance certified.

Round-the-clock support

SaaS knowledge base software like Document360 offers 24/7 support for users of the platform, which you can access through help articles, phone, email, or live chat. No question is too big or too small for the Document360 support team and you can ensure that you spend your time writing and publishing articles, not fixing software.

CSS and JavaScript styling

Although you can achieve great-looking documentation using the WYSIWYG editor, Document360 also enables you to use custom CSS and JavaScript to style your knowledge base. With relatively little effort, you can design a highly customized and personalized knowledge base that matches your brand and presents your documentation in the right way.

Final Remarks

Ultimately, choosing an open-source SSG like Docusaurus means taking on a lot of responsibility for development. In the end, you might find your new software becoming a hassle as it drains technical resources when you could simply have gone for a SaaS option like Document360. Docusaurus is great for some teams who need or want to use Open-source software, but Document360 works great out of the box.

With Document360, you are paying for ease of use and the reliability of a product that follows a knowledge-based roadmap. As user needs have developed and advanced, so too has our software. We have frequently added features that have been requested by our customers, and Document360 is always evolving to suit your needs. When comparing static site generators like Docusaurus and knowledge bases like Document360, you’ll find there is a big difference.

Document360 offers a great user experience for both technical and non-technical teams alike. Organizations find they can focus on the content rather than messing around with tooling, and then both customers and internal users can benefit. Truly helpful documentation is the result for teams that opt for Document360 as their SaaS knowledge base too

An intuitive AI-powered knowledge base software to easily add your content and integrate it with any application. Give Document360 a try!

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